[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 88 (Tuesday, July 11, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1208]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THE PASSING OF A GREAT PUBLIC SERVANT: JAMES C. KIRIE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HENRY J. HYDE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 11, 2000

  Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, on June 19th of this year my dear friend James 
C. Kirie died. He was 89 years old and had lived a full and productive 
life of service to his community, his State and Nation.
  The Chicago Sun-Times printed the following article about Jim's life:

              [From the Chicago Sun-Times, June 20, 2000]

                  James Kirie; First Held Office at 21

                          (By Curtis Lawrence)

       For nearly 70 years, Leyden Township Democratic 
     Committeeman James C. Kirie did what was seemingly the only 
     thing he knew to do--commit his life to public service.
       ``If I had my life to do over again, and I was to weigh my 
     life against being in politics or not being in politics, I 
     think I would do exactly what I did,'' Mr. Kirie once told 
     the late University of Illinois at Chicago Professor Milton 
     Rakove.
       Mr. Kirie died Monday morning at Evanston Hospital, two 
     weeks after he was stricken by a heart attack. He was 89.
       The son of Greek immigrants, Mr. Kirie dropped out of high 
     school to work in his family's River Grove restaurant. During 
     the Great Depression, he resumed his education and graduated 
     from Leyden High School, then later enrolled at Elmhurst 
     College.
       Seeking a way to earn money for tuition, Mr. Kirie applied 
     to run for village clerk in River Grove. He was nominated and 
     elected in 1932.
       ``I was only 20 and had to wait until my 21st birthday to 
     take office,'' he told Sun-Times columnist Steve Neal in 
     1991. ``If I hadn't needed a job to pay for my college 
     expenses, I doubt if I would have entered politics.''
       In addition to his position as the Democratic committeeman, 
     he was the president of the 25th Avenue Building Corporation, 
     and was investment officer of the Cook County Circuit Court 
     clerk when he died.
       During the 1930s, Mr. Kirie fought organized crime by 
     closing down brothels and gambling establishments. After the 
     Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mr. Kirie was among the 
     first elected officials to enlist in the Army. He took part 
     in the Normandy invasion.
       In the 1950s, after testifying before a U.S. Senate rackets 
     committee, Mr. Kirie's home and the restaurant he owned were 
     bombed. He later sponsored legislation for a state 
     wiretapping law.
       Mr. Kirie was slated for the Metropolitan Sanitary 
     District, now the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, in 
     1970. He served three six-year terms.
       He was a major sponsor of the metro Chicago's Deep Tunnel 
     project. In 1991, the water reclamation plant in Des Plaines 
     was named in his honor.
       Mr. Kirie is survived by two daughters, Barbara Kirie 
     Stewart and Circuit Court Judge Dorothy Kirie Kinnaird, and 
     two grandchildren, James Burke Kinnaird and Katherine Anne 
     Kirie Kinnaird.

  Mr. Speaker, Jim will be missed by his loving family and by his 
countless friends and admirers, among whom I am proud to count myself.

                          ____________________